The president of RTVE, José Manuel Pérez Tornero, speaks for the first time about the new Audiovisual Law and its impact on the role of public broadcasting in Spain and Europe. The changes will force to reform the financing system of the entity that he directs but with less drama than in other European countries.
It has given the impression that, in the European Union, it was betting that public television would disappear with the digital transformation. Good part.
Community directives have treated them as a commercial service and not as a public service. There has been a scare. The digital seemed to be that everyone can compete with everyone. And what has happened? Well, not everything is for the good. For example, on the issue of information saturation, there has been a lot of information fuss, there has been a lot of fake news, and this is already worrying from the democratic point of view, from the point of view of technological sovereignty. It is also worrying that in technology, Europe has suddenly found itself outside or that it is in the hands of a power like China or it is in the hands of the United States. There are few digital companies that work with European sovereignty. There is now a fairly solid feeling in the European Commission, in Parliament, in the States that either we all work together (digital development, high technology, artificial intelligence, digital and audiovisual rights) or we lose an essence of what Europe can be in the future, of what is.
“European cinema is financed and supported by European television, not only with money”
There has been a certain contempt for the nature of public service. It is changing. The other day, in Cannes, the directors of the most important public television channels met, what they call the Big Five, to say that European cinema is financed and supported by European television channels, not only with money, which anyone could give, but with support, with instruction, with dissemination without which European cinema would not be what it is. It would happen to us like in the NBA, that all the good players in Europe would go to play the NBA League and the sport of basketball in Europe would look bad. Well, this is very important in cinema.
What happens is that everyone buys that speech, but then, when it is necessary to specify, for example, in the Spanish audiovisual law that has just been voted, it is legislated in favor of private television. Here Spain can do a lot in positive. That the law determines that Radiotelevisión Española can support production companies that are aligned with other channels, independent or non-independent in quotation marks, does not mean that Radiotelevisión Española does not make a firm commitment to independent production and we are going to do it, we are going to do it in cinema, we are going to do it in programming, with respect for the rights of all, but we are going to do it very firmly. For us, the obligation to invest in Spanish cinema and Spanish audiovisual is greater, that is, we are more obliged by the hours that are computed for us, but we are going to do it with great pleasure. And we are also going to try to defend among the production companies that we can hire, not only the big ones, but also the small ones and the emerging ones. If there is no plurality in hiring and support, there is no cultural diversity, there is no linguistic diversity, for example. We are also going to give significant support to linguistic diversity. Regardless of what the law is and the lobbies that have influenced it and the concessions or not that have been made, the role of TVE is more important. I am going to propose a meeting with audiovisual producers, with the world of cinema, to express our firm will and commitment to it. Because it is a creative commitment. It is not a commitment to capital, but to creative capital.
But it seems that there is no majority in Congress in favor of public television. I know that the government is trying to defend public television because it has assured me reasonable funding. A very significant sign is that we have been given Next Generation funds to modernize ourselves. With great determination and high-mindedness, the first opposition party has declared its commitment to the public television network, because otherwise certain areas would not be talked about. And in general, when you talk about the left, the right, except for some groups that have stated that they would liquidate public television, the others do not express that will to end public television. What we find is that, just as private television stations are very secret or do not make their accounts and decisions transparent, we are open to analysis, open to the channel. In other words, it is difficult to even compete in a sports auction because you immediately know how much money you have or how much a presenter earns. But that transparency is good and that is why we are more subject to the back and forth of criticism. From what we are seeing in the great consultation, which is an investigation that we are doing with surveys and qualitative interviews, people expect a lot from public television and value it. The audiovisual in another way, which is what we have to promote.
“If they told me how I would like them to talk about me in the media, I would ask that there be truthfulness, that they check the information and that they do not transmit any hoax”
Adversaries/competitors are powerful because they have also tried to open the channel to you personally in your private finances. The post entails this. I wear it sportily. In other words, if they told me how I would like them to talk about me in the media, I would ask that there be truthfulness, that they verify the information and that they do not transmit any hoax. You are in the limelight, you have to submit to the scrutiny of public opinion, which is constant and in the medium and long term, certain things are clear. We have entered a very serious transformation process that is unfolding. I think the independence of professionals has grown. I believe that the credibility of our news programs is growing and special programs should be noted for the coverage we are doing of the war in Ukraine. The analyzes that are done, are measuring up and that everything else will pass.
So, don’t you have hidden dossiers of journalists? I have always defended the editorial boards, which are those places where the newsroom of a medium can express the defense of its independence. In this case we have a statute that says if someone does not want to sign information, they do not have to sign it. If someone receives something that threatens their professional independence, they can express it, they have the advice to turn to and there is also an editorial line of the Corporation that has to be independent, that has to be politically neutral and has to be advanced, socially committed. Well, for that the advice, a solid, stable, permanent and serious and rigorous advice, well, it comes in handy. And I believe that we must defend that we are one of the few newsrooms that has these guarantees in our country, that I also regularly appear before Parliament every month and explain decisions. That is healthy and you just have to get used to it, that the dialogue between professionals, managers, etc. It will always be a live dialogue, because each one has their criteria and that dialogue will come to light.
“The door to my president’s office will always be open. Whoever asks me to come”
A dialogue that can carry risks… The door to my president’s office will always be open. Whoever asks me to go. Whoever wants to dialogue and whoever wants, let’s say, to know a point of view and exchange. So we all have a responsibility. That responsibility each one has to fulfill in his place. I am satisfied with the task that I am carrying out. I would like to go faster, I would like to meet the demands of society more, but the truth is that this house has a very long history, many years and has gone through many vicissitudes of all kinds and being up to the circumstances requires tranquility, time and responsibility and above all patience. I appreciate the patience of the citizens with us and I also ask my executives to be especially patient.
Related news
They have also reproached him for a certain instability in his management team. There are executives who are very suitable for a time and for a moment. I have good advisers and they tell me that the rate of change of executives in a private company is much higher than ours. When you compare with political institutions, well, there is no more than looking at the changes that occur. We have the necessary stability, but there will be more changes. It is logical. There are executives with a competence that come in handy for a groundbreaking moment and others for another. And then you have to take into account that in this house there will be about 140 executives. I have made appointments over ten and I have also been able to do so by proposing it to the board of directors. They have not been my appointments. The successive appointments of these directors have been made through public competition. We have a stable workforce, because people are not laid off, and because we have a comprehensive replacement plan.
This advice was the result of a legislative change after a somewhat stormy period. Are you happy with how the governance of public broadcasting is working? I have learned that you have to have, at all times of your life, always a certain discontent to improve and a certain rebellion to gain strength for that change. This country needs many changes in every way. Like you said, this tip is one. I have publicly recognized it, the incorporation of the public contest is an advance. The election by a two-thirds majority is also important, and in this process some lessons have been learned that will lead us to improve in the future. I think we have to improve, not go back. I sincerely think that we must move forward, we must continue to move forward and I believe that the political arc in general has assumed that the path is practically irreversible and that by making it irreversible we are consolidating an institution that must be progressively more and more independent.